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This review contains spoilers for The Penguin episode 5.
Forget the mobster machinations of Oz and Sofia. The real excitement of The Penguin has come from the onscreen battle between actors Colin Farrell and Cristin Milioti. Where Farrell spent the show’s first three episodes trying to turn his boisterous supporting character from The Batman into a compelling series lead, Milioti seemed to move effortlessly between imperiousness and vulnerability with her up-and-coming gangster Sofia Falcone.
With the jaw-dropping fourth episode “Cent’Anni,” Milioti took control of The Penguin, thanks to fantastic story that traced Sofia’s journey from well-meaning and put-upon younger sister of the Falcones to a vengeance-filled woman who killed almost everyone in a gas leak, save for underboss/toady Johnny Vitti. But no sooner does Sofia take center stage than “Cent’Anni” director Helen Shaver return for an Oz showcase in “Homecoming.” Written by Breannah Gibson and Shaye Ogbonna, “Homecoming” follows Oz’s power play, one that ushers in a new era of crime in Gotham.
“Homecoming” picks up after the end of episodes 3 and 4, with Oz’s attempts to pit the Maronis and Falcones against one another revealed to Sofia, before she went on to gas her family. No longer required to play subservient to gangsters he reviles, Oz embraces his darker nature and gets much, much nastier. He kidnaps Maroni’s son Taj and uses the kid as a bargaining chip to get back the Bliss shipment he gave the family. While Salvatore’s wife meets Oz to get her son back, Cobb arranges for the boss to get shanked by a prison boss. Once mother and son reunite, Oz burns the two alive.
Shaver doesn’t shy away from the cruelty of the family’s death. Instead, she holds the camera on Oz’s face, letting the pyre highlight the intensity of his face. That single shot might justify the entire show so far, finally proving that Oz can carry his own show, that he’s more than just comic relief.
By ratcheting up the stakes around him, The Penguin finally catches up to the Penguin, making Farrell’s big, prosthetic-enhanced performance believable. He finally gets room to become a supervillain, as if the gangsters who once ruled Gotham — whether they be the feuding Falcones and Maronis or Rex Calabrese, the classy mobster whom Oz so admires — burned alongside Nadia and Taj.
Oz going big and bad gives heretofore flagging storylines room to breathe on their own. The subplot about Vic caring for Oz’s mother, suffering the onset of dementia, finally makes sense. There’s a sweetness to the duo’s connection, with Vic seeing the woman as a possible replacement for the family he lost in the Riddler’s attack and Teresa getting a chance to raise a better son.
Although “Homecoming” sets Oz on the rise, he’s still the Penguin at heart, an imperfect villain. Sal survives the assassination attempt and most of the Bliss supply gets destroyed. When Eve Karlo (a character who still serves no purpose in The Penguin, at least not played by an actor of Carmen Ejogo’s skill) refuses to go along with his plan, Oz breaks down into a ignoble whine.
Yet, all of these contours make this version of the Penguin so interesting. No matter how much power he accrues, no matter how cruelly he dispatches his rivals, Oz still struggles with an inferiority complex. It takes no more than a thoughtless word or a disappointed sigh to reduce Oz to a quivering mess.
That complexity may not be good for Oz, but it’s great for Farrell, as Milioti clearly has no intention of ceding control of the screen. “Homecoming” continues her ascent, as she takes the name Sofia Gigante and announces herself as the head of a new crime family. Although a fair deal slighter than her comic book counterpart, Milioti does take on the costume of the Sofia from Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s classic Batman stories, complete with fur coat and black dress.
So exciting is the stand-off between Oz and Sofia that one can’t help but wonder why The Penguin took so long to become the show it was always meant to be. It’s hard not to think the show would be a crackerjack two hour movie instead of shaggy series with three episodes of table setting.
Whatever the reasoning, it’s clear that the lines have been drawn and a new era has dawned in Gotham. By the time Oz reveals to Vic his secret lair, The Penguin has finally become the superhero show it was always meant to be. Now, let the fight begin.
The Penguin airs on HBO and Max at 9 p.m. ET on Sundays.
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